Fire Beneath the Embers
by lCe28
Summary: One could only take so much failure. And she had taken more than enough. This time, failure was something she never wanted to end up doing again.
1. Burnt Out

Disclaimer: I do not own anything made by Christy Hui. Got it? Good. **

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Summary:**

**Having lost various Shen-Gong-Wu a lot of times because of a certain pigtailed monk, Raimundo and Omi have been expressing their frustrations through taunts and sarcasms, which, unfortunately, Kimiko very well understands. This only adds fuel to her burning desire to prove herself – but will it bring her to do what Raimundo once did?**

**Author's note (PLEASE READ FIRST):**

**Heloo! Okay, you all think I'm abandoning my other stories (Naruto) but I'm not. It's all on hold, cause I'm thinking of more evil stuff to put in, and as you all know, I have a very tight sched. Its tough bein a third yr high school student, you know.**

**Anyway, I decided to make this cause I really, REALLY have been dying to make a Xiaolin Showdown fic. I really am! If you could just see how excited I already am…**

**Okay. At first there might not be some hints of romance. Sorry, but I don't like rushing stuff. It doesn't sound right, and usually, (this is all my opinion, don't flame me…) its better to have your characters SLOWLY fall in love, cause it will actually have a story behind it. Hehehe. They're not gonna suddenly wake up one morning and realize they love each other… I'll take it nice and slow.**

**Oh, and all your reviews and ideas are WELCOME! Thanks.**

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FIRE BENEATH THE EMBERS**

CHAPTER 1: OF FIRE AND FRUSTRATION…

A girl with jet-black hair in high pigtails sat on the grassy slope of a hill. Her clear, cerulean eyes were hazy and unfocused, just like her thoughts. She looked at her cell phone. _I wonder if it's too late to return to Japan?_ She thought. Heck, just one call to her dad and in a few minutes, her personal plane will be right there, beside her, with her dad in it. And probably, a new set of gadgets that her father has been DYING to share with her. Still, as tempting as the idea was, she instantly threw it away. She couldn't give up now, not that Chase Young is on the prowl. And yet… she hugged her knees to herself. It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair that she's lost more Shen-Gong-Wu than the other three combined! Sure, she may have mastered other Wu beforehand, but when it comes to showdowns… that's her weak point! Why can't she much more stronger? She was blessed with the element of fire, one of the wildest elements! But she's only wild when she's angry! When it comes to showdowns… that's another story. Not that she's chickening, but…

"Kimiko," someone called, "why, you're lookin' as sad as a piggie without its mud! What's the matter, missie?"

The accent and the language was a dead give-away. It was Clay.

"Nothing Clay… just homesick…" Kimiko mumbled. She didn't look up as Clay sat down on the grass beside her. Clay picked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth.

"I think it's got somethin' to do with your match today…" he said quietly, in a coaxing voice. Kimiko sighed. Lying to Clay was like lying to a lie detector! Well, when it comes to her, at least.

"Yeah… maybe that too…"

"Don't feel sad about it, Kimiko. We all make mistakes."

"No!" Kimiko found herself shouting. Clay remained calmly staring at her. "This isn't some mistake! Can't you see? I'm a total klutz! Whenever we get Shen-Gong-Wu, and **I** happen to get it, we always lose it! No matter how hard I try, we still lose it!" she said angrily, kicking off a clod of dirt, and, in her sheer frustration, throwing her cell phone against the nearest tree. It was her dad's first gift. And in her anger, she kicked the tree, which fell to the ground. For a moment, there was silence between them. Kimiko looked at the crashed cell phone. Clay shook his head.

"That's the main point."

"Of what?" she asked sullenly, looking at the broken gadget she had treasured so well.

"Why you're loosin'! Think about it, Kimiko. You always think you're gonna lose before you even start the match! You don't trust yourself anymore. And as a result, you lose. I'm not sayin' you're chickenin' out or somethin', but you just gotta believe in yourself!" he said, standing up and smiling at Kimiko. "You may not know it, but you're one of the strongest girls I have ever met before. And that's sayin' somethin', cause I only thought my sister was the only strong girl I've ever known!" he said encouragingly.

"You're just saying that." She replied, leaning back on a tree beside the one she crashed.

"I mean every darn word I just said." Clay said, giving Kimiko a smile. Kimiko couldn't help but smile back. It was infectious.

"Thanks Clay." Kimiko mumbled, giving him a hug.

"No problem! I always looked at you as a sister… I mean… a kinder version…" Clay said, giving her a HUGE hug back.

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Unfortunately, two monks didn't think so.

It was dinnertime. The four monks and Master Fung with, of course, Dojo, were currently eating quietly, having short conversations. Until, it led to the Shen-Gong-Wu. Raimundo kicked into high gear.

"Man, this was one of the BEST days ever!" Raimundo said, laughing. Kimiko looked up. "I mean, who'd've thunk that you can loose half the Shen-Gong-Wu you obtained IN ONE MATCH?" Raimundo started laughing hysterically. He winked at Omi, and Omi, having improved his understanding of the modern language, jumped in the same cart wagon.

"Oh, yes! This experience have certainly led me to the conclusions that girls really rock at embarrassing things!"

Omi and Raimundo laughed hysterically together. Dojo decided to jump in as well.

"Yeah! And I thought we couldn't get any worse!"

That was the last draw.

Picking up three forks, and ignoring Clay's mumbles of 'Calm down…'; she threw it angrily towards the laughing trio, who never got to duck in time. They got stuck to the wall, all three of them. Omi, by his sleeve, Dojo, by his tail, and Raimundo got the scariest hit ever.

The fork was on the garment between his legs. It was SOOO close.

Kimiko was fuming.

"What's the matter? Why'd you all stop? Weren't you all having such a good time?" she asked angrily, overturning her bowl of soup. Master Fung looked up. His eyes widened as Kimiko continued on fuming angrily at them. Flashbacks returned to him once more, combining with what was happening right then and there. Once or twice, another girl replaced Kimiko –with long, curly hair.

"You think you guys are the best! You think you can do anything because you know you're all stronger than me! Well, two can play it at that game, and I'm gonna kick ass!" Kimiko shouted from the top of her lungs. She turned away from the table. It was just too much for her to handle. She could've taken it if they had been angry, but they had insulted her, and it had gone too far. They had passed the limit. She ran outside, and leaned on a pillar. Rain started to fall, then turning into a storm. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, yet Kimiko remained where she was. She was oblivious to it all…

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Raimundo removed the fork from… well, you know. He stared across the table where Kimiko had eaten, but she wasn't there anymore. He walked outside, and saw her, leaning at a pillar, looking at ground. He made a step forward towards her, and then realized that she just wanted to be alone at the moment. He bowed his head. What happened earlier was like deja vu! Sullenly, he stayed at his place and sat cross-legged on the floor, observing the now drenched Kimiko. It was about 8 years ago…

His mom had been upset about something, and she was very hotheaded that day. Little Raimundo knew the reason why, and apparently, the little idiot thought that the very thing to cheer up her mama was to make fun of her mistake. In other terms, make her feel worse about what happened. Well, he did it all right, and do you know what she said?

"_Raimundo, one day you will regret being as light as you are. You're so dense that you don't know you're already hurting someone without you noticing it!"_

He had gotten no desert that day.

But her mom gave him twice the desert they had the next day, though.

'Cause try as she might, she can never get angry with Raimundo for too long. He's just too goddamn witty and handsome for his own sake. He can spend your credit card away on the arcade, lose each and every game, still, he can get away with it.

But of course, everything has limits, and Kimiko was one of them. So far, Raimundo's amazed that Kimiko can hit him yet she wouldn't feel one twinge of guilt at all. That's why Raimundo looks up to her so much.

Raimundo sighed, stood up and went inside after a good hour of waiting. She's not coming back inside even if she got sick with influenza. No can do. _Stubborn girl…_ he thought, as he put his hands behind his head and started walking back inside.

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Kimiko turned around just as Raimundo's chocolate brown hair disappeared through the red Chinese doors. She coughed. _I'd better get inside before I get sick with influenza. I may be stubborn, but not that much…_ she thought. As she stood up, a wave of anger swept her, with Raimundo and Omi's laughter ringing in her ears. She clenched her fists, and looked out into the rain. _…Not just yet, _she decided. _There's no better time to train than in your most vulnerable state…_

She sped out into the pouring rain, and went into the training area. Before she entered the gates inside the training grounds, she pulled out a blindfold and put it on. She opened the gates. Far away, Raimundo watched her, while he leaned on the window of his bedroom.

_Let's see what the fire dragon can really do,_ they both thought at the same time.

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How was it? bad? Good? Worse? Idiotic? Let me know. please review! sorry for the short chapter though. hehehe... bye! **

wudai-fire


	2. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

**Author's Note:**

**Hello people. This has to be the nth note I have written to everyone. Gomen ne. It's just that it's been very very busy, and one would think, "She should've just discontinued the stories she wrote or deleted them—the bitch isn't updating at all! How many years has it been?!"**

**Well, to be frank, my thoughts exactly. But then, I realized, I worked so hard on these stuff, and you guys made an effort to comment and review and ask that I update. So now, I shall continue all these stories. I want to finish, them, too.**

**Hopefully, you'll still want to read them after all this time. I understand that you may have lost interest in them, and that's okay. But if you guys still want to read, then it would very much make me happy. :D**

**Also, just a few more things: I will be, for the nth time, changing my name. Yes, yes, quite annoying, don't you think? But rest assured, it will be for the last time. :D I have had enough with the name changing. Besides, I'm more attached to this name than anything else.**

**So, there we go. I'm back. And hopefully, I'm still welcome.**

**See you guys around~**

** All my love,**

** lCe28**

***The "I" in my new name is actually the letter "L" that isn't capitalized, since there's already another account that goes by the name "Ice28". **


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